Chapter 269 orders all of you countries to hand over your national seals and join the Ming Dynasty!
"Lord?!"
When Wang Jiayan heard Yan Shifan directly threaten to force the kings of Siam, Korea and Toungoo to come and see him, his breathing stagnated and he exclaimed subconsciously.
"Huh," Wang Jiayan exhaled after taking a deep breath and continued, "Lord, after all, this involves many countries, should we..."
"Humph," Yan Shifan snorted coldly upon hearing this, "A tiny place is worthy of being called a country?"
At this moment, Yan Shifan demonstrated his arrogance to the fullest.
Looking at Yan Shifan at this moment, Wang Jiayan opened his mouth and wanted to say something, but finally shut up.
He understood in his heart that the person in front of him was still the treacherous and evil young cabinet minister Yan Shifan!
I cannot ignore the fact that he is a bigger corrupt official just because he has just dealt with Wen Tiren.
The reason why Wen Tiren was investigated and prosecuted, and probably would not have a chance to survive after this, was simply because Wen Tiren was facing off against Yan Shifan, a more powerful person!
"Yes, I understand." Thinking of this, he knew that he was powerless to change anything. Now that he could bring down the extremely corrupt and treacherous Wen Tiren and do something for the court, it was already his limit.
If you want him to interfere with Yan Shifan's decision again, that is absolutely impossible.
Thinking of this, Wang Jiayan said nothing more. He bowed to Yan Shifan and turned to leave.
Nanjing Garrison, Wen Tiren was imprisoned!
When Yan Shifan leaked the information intentionally, the news spread quickly in all directions as if it had wings.
So, that night, the whole city of Nanjing was in a panic, and everyone was in danger!
Of course, this "everyone is in danger" refers to the immortal cultivation families and officials who are involved in the spirit stone business.
After all, everyone knows that the biggest umbrella for the spiritual stone business in Nanjing City is the chief of the Liaison Office, Wen Tiren.
In the whole city of Nanjing, all the immortal cultivation families, big and small, or officials, who are related to the spiritual stone business, must pay a certain amount of "filial piety" to the man who is staying behind.
Otherwise, it’s impossible to do it!
The reason why the Lingshi business is so rampant in the underground world of Nanjing City is because of this.
As for the reports that come out every year, such as the crackdown on the spirit stone smuggling business, they are actually nothing more than lower-level officials looking for some underground world and smuggling gangs as scapegoats.
Afterwards, these achievements can also be reported to the cabinet.
This has been the way things have been going on for decades, and basically all the officials in Nanjing city, from top to bottom, know about it.
Even if some honest officials wanted to report to the higher authorities, it would be impossible for them to do so.
With the development of the spiritual energy industry era and the comprehensive coverage of the spiritual network, the original primitive method of sending letters by spiritual birds has long been eliminated for the court's communications, and now all communications are transmitted through the spiritual network.
Since the spiritual network was laid out across the entire territory of the Ming Dynasty, every provincial government, prefecture, state, and county has a special "Network Monitoring Office" responsible for monitoring the spiritual network.
Anyone who dares to spread any negative remarks about the imperial court or the local officials on the spiritual network will be investigated.
Of course, according to the rules, the "Internet Monitoring Office" will not report all the monitored information and arrest the people.
Generally speaking, if citizens use the spiritual network to spread rumors, the correct way to deal with it is to delete it directly, and then the "Internet Monitoring Office" will come forward to clarify, and then give appropriate punishment according to the degree of harm caused by the rumor.
For example, if some citizens spread negative comments about local officials on the Internet, the "Internet Monitoring Office" will generally not pay any attention to it but will only track and lock it down.
We will then secretly investigate the background of those who spread these remarks on the Internet.
If it is just an ordinary citizen, then no action will be taken and the citizen's speech will not be erased.
After all, the national policy of "initiating thinking and innovation" is a national policy that must be implemented forever, and its purpose is to make the Ming Dynasty more civilized and the people's thoughts more active.
Over the past few decades, the Ming Dynasty's immortal cultivation world and the various arts of immortal cultivation have developed in an orderly manner, thanks to the "inspiration of thinking and innovation" and the emancipation of the mind.
The people dare to innovate and speak out without worrying about being caught by the government or targeted due to taboos.
Such an effective national policy, if people are held accountable and punished just because they speak the truth on the spiritual Internet, then the freedom of speech that the court has been advocating will be a joke.
On the contrary, if the people in the "Internet Monitoring Office" find that the people who spread the remarks are organized and premeditated and want to harm the court, they will naturally be taken down in minutes.
However, with the rise of the spirit stone business, the city of Nanjing was already a mixed bag, and naturally some people from the Internet Monitoring Office were involved. In this way, the channels for communication between the upper and lower levels were cut off.
Even if a commoner were to expose the spiritual stone smuggling business on the spiritual network, it would be wiped out instantly.
Even some gangs in the basement will find this person and threaten or kill him.
The entire city of Nanjing maintains a superficial peace, but in fact, some people have begun to become dissatisfied in recent years.
Moreover, judging from the small, Nanjing City is just a sign now, but in fact, this phenomenon already exists throughout the Ming Dynasty, and this is why Yan Song wants to eradicate the spiritual stone business.
Even if this move might lead to the punishment of various forces, including a group of officials including his Yan family, he would not hesitate to do it. As for Zhang Juzheng and others, they had similar ideas.
For those senior executives, they are very clear about what can be done and what cannot be done.
Because from the moment they embarked on the path of cultivating immortals, Jiajing planted an iron rule in their hearts, that is, no matter how they fought, no matter how life and death they fought for the sake of interests, there was always one thing, that is, the Ming Dynasty must be the ultimate beneficiary.
Now the signs of the spiritual stone business have already penetrated deep into the Ming Dynasty. If this continues, it will be troublesome for the Ming Dynasty to turn around or deal with it drastically.
Once the interests of the Ming Dynasty are damaged, the interests of those at the top will ultimately be affected.
The spirit stone business is not something they care about at all. At most, some low-ranking officials under their command, who want to gain political achievements, allow independent cultivators to start with spirit stones and then launder their wealth.
Therefore, when the signs appear and it is time to nibble them out, they will nibble them out without hesitation.
The officials of the six ministries are all working hard to develop the immortal cultivation family, which has long been deeply tied to the interests of the imperial court!
For them, damaging the interests of the court is damaging their own interests.
The spirit stone business only brings in a small amount of profit in the short term, but if it continues in the long run, it will damage the entire empire and the foundations of their immortal cultivation families.
With the lessons learned from the aristocratic families during the Sui and Tang dynasties, these shrewd old foxes will naturally not make the same mistake again.
Every high-ranking official in the cabinet and the six ministries knew clearly that from the moment the emperor tacitly approved their development of immortal cultivation families, they had already realized that the structure of the future Ming Dynasty would inevitably evolve towards the relationship between the court and the aristocratic clans during the Sui and Tang dynasties.
Especially those in the cabinet, after learning about the existence of the world of immortal cultivation, they understood more clearly why the emperor, knowing the harm posed by the aristocratic families during the Sui and Tang dynasties, still wanted to facilitate this situation.
Because the world of immortal cultivation is too vast, and the Ming Dynasty is always in a stage of striving to catch up.
Once the upper echelons of the Power Tower system, that is, the families of officials in the cabinet, the six ministries, etc., enter the world of cultivating immortals, it will be difficult to ensure that they will not harbor disloyal thoughts.
Even if they surrendered their lives in advance, and the emperor also had many means to ensure that they would not betray the Ming Dynasty, those in power all understood one thing: the way to rule the people is not simply bloody suppression and iron-blooded policies.
The best solution is to use your own life and family's future as hostage, use the channel between the two worlds as a deterrent, and then lure them with benefits!
All the families of officials in the six ministries and provincial governments have handed in their birth certificates. Even the most outstanding descendants in the family must hand in their birth certificates.
This is equivalent to handing over one's entire family and future to the emperor, which is equivalent to being a hostage.
Of course, being a hostage has only benefits and no disadvantages for these officials.
So everyone did it willingly!
Even some prefecture-level officials with poor economic conditions would not be eligible to hand over their natal charter to the natal plateau.
Then, you can freely travel between the two worlds to the world of immortal cultivation. This channel can only be opened by the emperor, and the emperor can close it at any time.
In this way, even if some people develop disloyalty and want to find another way out for themselves in the world of immortal cultivation, it is impossible. Once the emperor closes the channel, they will completely lose contact.
And the most important thing is, what did you do to harm the court that made the emperor directly close the access to your house?
When things have come to this point, it means that there is no need for your family to exist anymore.
And this is also a deterrent!
Of course, whether it is handing over their own life as a proton, or using the channel between the two worlds as a deterrent, there are only benefits and no disadvantages for them.
Handing in one's natal item means that as long as one's political achievements meet the standards and one works hard to polish the natal item, the emperor will reward one with cultivation every once in a while, allowing one to make a breakthrough directly.
In addition, with the passage between the two worlds, it means that his family can develop business in the world of immortal cultivation. In this way, the family will develop better and faster.
There is only one invisible requirement for them, or the bottom line that cannot be violated, and that is that they must not have any other thoughts and betray the Ming Dynasty.
In this way, the immortal cultivation families in the Ming Dynasty formed a close relationship of shared interests with the imperial court.
To harm the interests of the imperial court would be to harm the interests of each immortal cultivation family.
Even today, the relationship between the court and the family is much more solid than the relationship between the court and the aristocratic families during the Sui and Tang dynasties.
Therefore, the high officials of the cabinet and the six ministries would never allow anyone to harm the interests of the Ming Dynasty. They could even temporarily give up the petty gains in front of them for the sake of the interests of the Ming Dynasty.
Therefore, after realizing the dangers of the spiritual stone business and knowing that Yan Shifan was going to Nanjing in person, no one in the cabinet took any action.
There seems to be a sense of letting Yan Shifan go and making trouble.
Yan Shifan acted very quickly, and all the Xianwu Guards and Jinyi Guards stationed in Nanjing City were dispatched.
Just use the evidence in hand to arrest people.
Some of the so-called extreme gangs in the underground world were given the maximum sentences, and most of the gangs involved in the spirit stone industry were wiped out.
Some officials even searched houses without hesitation.
Some extreme gangs that had previously been entrenched in the underground world of Nanjing City relied on their large numbers and even cultivated many powerful immortal cultivators with the help of spirit stones. However, on this night, when faced with the Immortal Guards and the Embroidered Uniform Guards, they were like paper and could not withstand a single blow!
Throughout the night, all the officials from the underground forces in Nanjing city, big and small, who were involved with the spiritual stones were arrested.
In an instant, the entire spiritual network exploded!
Yan Shifan had no intention of hiding anything that happened that night from the people.
After all, he came here to rid the people of harm, so he would naturally not miss such an opportunity to publicize himself.
Well, although he doesn’t care about the opinions of these grassroots people, wouldn’t it be a waste if good things don’t spread far and wide?
Then, the spiritual network suddenly became lively.
In the city of Nanjing, newspapers and periodicals, large and small, both imperial and private, began to report on the event.
Chao Pao Zhiji, a famous newspaper in Nanjing.
"Dear viewers, this is 'Direct Report from the Morning Post', I'm special correspondent Li Wenbo." "Just now, we received an urgent message about the latest progress of the young cabinet minister Yan Shifan in rectifying the local area, combating the smuggling of spiritual stones, and punishing corrupt officials..."
On Lingwang, in the column page of "Morning News Direct", a video is playing, and it is being broadcast live in real time.
In the comment section below, there are many messages from the people.
1. [Jiangnan Banbao Xiucai: Awesome! It really deserves to be called "Direct Report from the Morning News". It is so rich and powerful that it can actually transmit reports in real time. You should know that the real-time transmission of the Photo Stone consumes a huge amount of spiritual energy! ]
2. [Taohuayuanli: You may not know that the background of this "Chaobao Zhiji" is extraordinary. I heard that the founder is a third-generation rich man in Beijing. You should take a closer look! ]
3. [Golden Pen Scholar: Is the imperial court finally going to take action against the Spirit Stones? That’s great. My previous Taoist companion coveted the effects of the Spirit Stones and ended up becoming half-human, half-ghost…]
……
Lingwang, the evening news column page.
"Listeners, this is the Evening News Express. I am a special correspondent...According to the news from the front..."
"This operation aims to eliminate the underground gangs that have long been entrenched in this area. These gangs have made huge profits through illegal means and have seriously disrupted local peace..."
1. [Bai Ye Gao Fei: What's going on? Even the usually stingy "Evening News" has started to transmit in real time? Not going to celebrate? Just eat this one meal?]
2. [Yurun Wusheng: You don’t understand this. Today’s incident is a big deal. As far as I know, in just the middle of the night, Jiangning District, Jurong District, Shangyuan District…
In some small counties and even villages around here, many officials were taken away directly, and some large and small gangs in the basements were wiped out...】
3. [I don’t eat beef: Many of the first batch of immortal cultivation families in Nanjing were directly wiped out...]
……
Lingwang, Morning Bell and Evening Drum column.
"This is "Morning Bells and Evening Drums", and I'm the reporter... Some local officials with ill intentions have formed an undercurrent that is eroding the foundation of our Ming Dynasty..."
……
Lingwang, a fax column of the official newspaper.
"This is the Fax of the Palace Gazette. I am... Lord Yan knows very well that if such actions are not curbed, they will become a disaster for the country. Therefore, he took decisive action..."
……
Lingwang, a column for recording the gossips in the streets.
"Hello, everyone. Excuse me. I am the reporter of "The Record of Alley Discussions"... For those officials who were blinded by money and participated in corruption and bribery, Lord Yan has made it clear that he will not show mercy and will severely punish them according to the law..."
……
That night, the city of Nanjing was brightly lit, and on the spiritual network, countless people were partying all night long.
Newspapers and periodicals such as "Evening News", "Morning Bells and Evening Drums", "Alley Discussions", "Post Horse Flying News", "Beijing Night Tales" and so on were even more wealthy and powerful. They waved their hands and directly adopted the real-time transmission method to report to the people.
Of course, the cabinet had already known about such a big thing happening in Nanjing.
Moreover, Yan Shifan did not hide anything from the cabinet, but directly reported his achievements and all the evidence to them.
Then, Yan Song didn't waste any time and quickly convened a cabinet meeting at dawn.
Afterwards, based on the evidence of the Lingshi business and the business network found in Nanjing City, a nationwide investigation was launched.
Senior officials from the cabinet and the six ministries all understood that it was already early December of the ninety-ninth year of the Jiajing reign.
Moreover, the Emperor has already broken through to the Nascent Soul stage and has come out of retreat. According to convention, he will most likely convene a meeting on the plateau to discuss politics at the end of December. This spiritual stone smuggling business involves all aspects.
If they could resolve all the issues and make it all come to an end by the end of December, before the emperor convened the highland political meeting, then it would be a political achievement for them.
Even some officials have decided to sacrifice those cannon fodders involved in the spirit stone business at the bottom level, in order to add a heavy stroke to their already not-so-heavy political achievements.
At this time, the sky was already bright.
After a whole night of discussion, the cabinet has already formulated the general direction for handling issues related to spirit stones. Next are some issues that need to be discussed and considered carefully.
The Imperial Palace, inside the Wenhua Hall.
All the cabinet members, the six ministries, the Inspectorate and a very small number of other senior officials gathered together.
"Tell me all. The evidence and business connections we found in Nanjing this time show that some small countries around our Ming Dynasty have used the spiritual stone business to purchase large quantities of normal spiritual resources and secretly develop their own immortal cultivation dynasties."
Prince Yu, who was sitting at the top, spoke in a cold voice with a sullen face.
Now that the general direction of the spirit stone business has been discussed, the next issue is the issue of neighboring countries purchasing large quantities of normal spirit resources without authorization.
"Previously, our policy towards overseas countries was to control some families and make them work for the Ming Dynasty," Zhang Juzheng suddenly spoke slowly, saying:
"In order to better control the overseas countries, we provide these families with a certain amount of normal comprehension resources to allow them to develop, while the other people in the overseas countries use spirit stones to practice."
"Although this method is harmful to the harmony of heaven and people, it is beneficial to the Ming Dynasty, so we will not discuss it for now." Having said this, Zhang Juzheng paused for a moment, and then continued:
"However, for these small countries surrounding the Ming Dynasty, only the direct descendants of their royal families can use normal spiritual resources for cultivation. Moreover, the normal comprehension resources introduced each year have a certain quota and entry and exit records, and are strictly controlled..."
"The common people in the territory all practice cultivation mainly with spirit stones, and every cultivator who uses spirit stones for cultivation must enter the spirit energy factory to work!"
"And there are also many outstanding people in these small countries. They risked their lives to advise their kings and want to cancel the spiritual stone cultivation!"
"But they were all rejected. Then they settled for the next best option, which was to require that the number of monks entering the spiritual energy factory every year be limited to a certain number, and that normal civilians must be allowed to exist."
"In the past few years, small countries around us have often petitioned the Ming Dynasty to increase the supply of normal spiritual resources."
“But we rejected them all. In recent years, they have suddenly reduced their petitions, which clearly shows that they have other plans.”
"That is to secretly develop the Immortal Dynasty by purchasing a large amount of spirit stones and trading normal resources with those corrupt officials."
"Since these small countries are located around our Great Ming, and they have always been submissive, there is no need to send large troops to station there, and supervision is not very strict."
“They have always managed it themselves.”
"Now it seems that we have also made the mistake of not seeing the light in the dark..."
Everyone looked at Zhang Juzheng with their eyes slightly narrowed. Their intuition told them that Zhang Juzheng must have other purposes for saying so much nonsense that everyone knew.
As expected, Zhang Juzheng spoke again, but this time he changed the subject and said:
"I remember that the final result of the third and fourth phases of the land reform was to expand the territory of our Great Ming and incorporate the territories of other countries into our Great Ming. Do you still remember it?"
Hearing this, everyone's eyes flashed with a gleam of light. Judging from the tone of the words, how could they not understand the meaning of Zhang Juzheng's words.
A lot of groundwork has been laid before, and the meaning is the same, both explicitly and implicitly, that is, the surrounding small countries are out of control and are wolves that cannot be tamed.
At this time, the old matter was brought up again.
It is all for this final step, to annex the countries surrounding the Ming Dynasty!
After Zhang Juzheng finished speaking, the entire Wenhua Hall fell into silence at this moment.
Since everyone understood the meaning of Zhang Juzheng's words, they were too lazy to argue anymore and simply started thinking about the benefits involved.
Why did you start the spiritual stone trade before? Why did you choose to shelve the third and fourth stages of land reform? Wasn't it for the development of the spiritual energy industrial era? Wasn't the spiritual energy factory needed?
Nowadays, there are very few spiritual energy factories in the Ming Dynasty. Even if there are any, they are all light industrial factories.
Such as clothing and textiles, leather manufacturing, printing industry and so on.
As for heavy industrial factories, they are all located in overseas countries and neighboring small countries.
After all, the development of spiritual heavy industry requires a large amount of spiritual stones.
If spiritual stones are used on a large scale, the spiritual energy will inevitably dissipate, thus damaging the Ming Dynasty's immortal cultivation world.
In order to prevent the spiritual energy of the spirit stone from harming the Ming Dynasty, Jiajing even set up restrictions within the Ming Dynasty early on.
Now that the surrounding countries are suddenly incorporated into the territory, the territories of these countries become the territories of Ming Dynasty. Should the spiritual energy factory still be run?
This is the first point!
There is also a second point. If the territories of the surrounding small countries are incorporated into the Ming Dynasty, how will the people of these countries be resettled?
Well, actually it’s still the first point.
If the surrounding countries were incorporated into the Ming Dynasty, wouldn't the people of those countries become the people of the Ming Dynasty? How would so many spiritual stone practitioners be settled?
Apart from these two points, there are no other major problems.
Even in the eyes of these senior officials, if they can expand the territory in their generation, it would be a huge achievement!
Thirty years' year-end bonus is coming soon. If you can annex the surrounding small countries within a month, won't you get more rewards?
As for the difficulty of annexing the surrounding small countries in one month, well, it is no longer within their consideration.
Because it’s so simple!
It can be done without even using a single soldier.
All it takes is an imperial decree for all countries to hand over their national seals and merge into the Ming Dynasty!
What? Not willing? That's great. The three major camps and the various military garrisons have been looking forward to the war.
Silence, long silence!
Everyone is still weighing the pros and cons, thinking about whether this method is feasible.
To annex or not to annex?
If it is annexed, what will be the subsequent arrangements?
Well, charity is a big deal and needs to be thought about carefully!
While the cabinet was thinking about it, the surrounding countries, such as Siam, Toungoo and Korea, were already trembling with fear.
(Note: Siam in the book is today's Thailand; Toungoo is today's Myanmar, and ancient Korea is not today's Korea.)
The rulers of the Three Kingdoms set out overnight, boarded the immortal railway, and rushed to Nanjing.
"..."
(End of this chapter)
